Union suit



T. H. SMITH. umou sun, APPLICATION FILED MAR. 23, 192].

Patented Sept. 5, 1922..

THOMAS :nnnarsivrrrn, orrzraivxnsrowiv, NEW YORK.

TENT OFFICE;

, UNION SUIT.

a iiieanfiii"aim mmense, 1921} Serial 110454339.

To all whom it may concernfl' j i v Be it "known that I, 'TIaoM'As HENRY SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of Jamestown, in the coun ty of Chautauqua and State of New York, haveinyented certain new and -usefullmprovements in Union Suits; of which the,

following, taken in conneotion with the faccompanying drawings isjaspecification. The nvention relates to undergarments,

with the idea of doing away with all or nearly-all buttons so that there are none" to'befsmashed in thel'aundryg yet providing means whereby the interlapping-parts may combinationshereinafter; set forth;' and be quickly and easily opened or retained in the olosed positionf y Accordingly, the object of the improve ment is to provideme'ansforflholding the lapping or interlap'ping parts vof the under-j garment with adaptation to tlie figure of the individual and thereby produce a buttonless or nearly buttonless 'under'garment";"and the invention consists in the novelfeatures and claimed:

In the drawings; front elev vation of thetrunk p'o'rtion, of ayrnan showing the front lap offa union suit" and the manner of closing the same. Fig. 2115; a rear elevation of a manwiththe unions uit thereon showing the manner of, closing and holding the back flaps andhigl 3 is an enlarged View of said back flap portion ofthe undergarment showing the preferredfconstruction and arrangement of the parts 'withgthe draw cords in position, the garmentbeing broken away to reveal the attachmentandarrangement of the cord for the under flap, the mannor of opening said flaps being shown in dotted outline. Fig. 4 is a crosswise sectional view at lines 4:4: in Fig. 3 showing the preferred construction of the cloth guideways for the draw cords. Fig. 5 is a modification showing one of the flaps or lapping parts attached by a'draw cord and a button attached to said lapping part. Fig, 6 is a further modification showing a single cord and guideway instead of the double cords and guideways shown in the preferred construction. I

Like characters of reference refer to corresponding parts in the several views.

The numeral 10 designatesthe undergarment which has the front interlapping flaps or portions 11 and 12 and the back flapspr interlapping portions 13 and 14, the remainderof the garment being made in. the usual manner to fit the figure of the individual.

y In order ,togholdthe interlapping parts 11,12, 13 and inipositi'on, yet permit the free and" easy movement of the individual, and also to provide for the quick opening and closing attachment .ofv said interlapping portions, preferab'lyknit or woven soft tubular cords 15 and'lti are attached to the edges, one to each interlapping portion, preferably by sewingthe same uponithe iinterla ping part near its edge portion as shown at 1 the cord 15 being attached to the outer-lap, and the cord16 to the under or inner lap.

Eachlof, the cords 15 and 16 are preferably attached by looping the same in their central portion and attaching the looped or return bend end as shown at 17,thence carry 111g said cords horizontally or at right angles to the edge of the lappingportion to which it is attached, andinserting through tubular cloth guideways 18, one foreachof the cords, which guideway 18 is preferably made by attaching a piece, of cloth 19; to the garment 1O aspaced distance from the edge of the lappingpart by sewingsaid piece of cloth flap or lapping portion 14: is brought out through the garment 10, preferably through a reinforcedeyelet 27 which has been properly overcast so as to make a durable construction permitting the draw of the two cords throughthe same. Said cords may be drawn through the onejhole or through sep arate holes asr-desired, the cord 16 thence '-passing out through the tubular guideways 18 and attached, to one another at 20. The

one eyelet 27, however, reduces the amount of work and serves the purpose equally well. I Y

It is apparent that the front flaps 11 and 12 or the rear flaps 13 and 1a may be attached over one another in substantially the same manner and that when said soft tubu- 19 along each side of the strands of cord lar cords 15 and 16 are extended out through the frictional tubular cloth guideways 18, they hold with peculiar tenacity, yet enable the wearer to assume any position and allow also for drawingor.withdrawing the cords so that an easy, comfortable fit is acquired by the wearer of the same.

In order to enter or put on the garment, the cords 15, and 16 forthefront'fiaps'lland 12 should be of sufiicient length to permit the free opening' of the'neck portion so that thegarinentmay be" drawn up over'the' body and the arms entered intotlie sleere ,portions. Thecords 15 antl16 for the "back flaps 13*and'1 l Inaybje'loopedinto one anotheracrosstheabdonien as shown in Fig. 1 by simply inserting-the knot 20 through the looped'end o fthe opposite cordgthough this is not usually found necessary in order to hold the parts'firmly-in position, since if the cloth pieces 19 are sufficiently long toprovide L guideways 18 of fair length, the

frictional holding of said guideways upon the cords holdsthe garment firmlyin shape.

In-case of anabnormal strain for any reason, saidco rdsand guideways permit the garment togive somewhat, thereby overcom ing suchtrains much more easily and comfort-ably than in the case of buttons which would be torn ofl the garment and havetto be replace'd,-the' wearer waiting for a convenient opportunity tolhave replacement of the same.

In the modification shown in Fig. 5, ,a button 21isprovided on the edge of the lapping portion, and the end 22 of thecord 23'is looped and fastened preferably by a thread around the same to thereby provide an eyelet or button-110M252 in the end of the loopedcord to fasten over said button 21, This 'modification dependsfupon the cloth guidewayslS formedbythe attached cloth 19 upon-the garment10'to'hold the'laps or flaps the same as in I the preferred form of attachment as shown at 17.

In the modification shown in Fig. a

singlecord 24 attached to the edge of the way 25. The single cord attains a fair purjposa-whereino.great'stran'is come upon the interlapping parts, but it is usually pre ferred and but little more work to provide the two slidably mounted draw cords with their double guideway and holding power.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination withi'a garment having overlapping parts with free outer sides, a cord for each, part doubled between its ends tot'orinf parallel portions that are afliXed at the'doub'led endtothe part, relatively short fabric members I ailixed to the garment adj'acent tothe" respective free sides of'the overlapping parts to provide a ,pair of parallel spaced guides which frictionally'receive the respectivaparalll portions of the cords, the free ends o'f the respective cords'being tied together: at points beyond 'the 'fabric members so as to engage'the outerends'thereof at 'pointsbetween the parallel guides to thereby'restrictthe extent of inward movement of the cords relative totheguides.

2. In a garment having an overlapping part with a free outer side, a draw string for each part attachedat one end to "the outer side thereof said garmenthavingapa'ir of closely spaced parts for the overlapping part which spaced parts are formed to receive'porti'onsiof thestringythe string being threadedin and outofthespaced parts'so that portions of the string engage both the inner and outer facesof the garment whereby the string is frictionallyheljd by each of said spacedjp rts and alsoby the inner and outer graces of the garment adj a'cent to the sp'aced parts. 7

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in the'presenc'eoftwo witnesses. EHOMAS HENR -Y SMITH.

\ "lVitnesses": I I C. 'BJSwA'NsoN,

v "THno'THo rAs HAAG. 

